


Remembrances

by Dragonsigma



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Fire Lizards, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 00:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6098929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonsigma/pseuds/Dragonsigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cala knew that Dazhis would not be remembered as a harper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remembrances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Path](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Path/gifts).



As Weyr Harper, Cala knew the Records better than anyone except perhaps the archivist himself. He knew without looking that it had been two centuries since Drazhada Weyr had seen treachery on this scale. He didn’t know why the conspirators had done what they’d done, or how they had convinced his fellow harper to join. Dazhis, for his part in it, had been exiled from the Weyr and all its attached Holds, ordered to leave within a day and never return.

Cala had thought that fate bad enough. And then he was woken for the second night in a row by the clamor of footsteps and raised voices, this time near Dazhis’s quarters. When Wingsecond K’vet had tried to keep him back from the door, ears flat and eyes horrified, he knew at once what Dazhis had done. K’vet and Wingleader D’ret finally managed to pull him away, but not before he’d seen the knife and the blood…

As if sensing his thoughts, Magi coiled tighter around his neck, tucking his blue head against Cala's shoulder. Cala reached up to stroke him, feeling the fire lizard lean into his fingers. Magi was shy at the best of times, with a habit of hiding in Cala's sleeves when others were around. Cala, unwilling to bear the tragic looks the creature gave him whenever he tried to shoo him away, had learned to play gittern and pipe with a fire lizard coiled around his arm.

He and Dazhis had performed together at the last Gather, playing one of Dazhis’s favorites, a tricky song that they had practiced for days to get every note right.

Cala wondered if he would ever find such a partner again.

Dazhis would not be remembered as a harper, he knew. Only as a traitor who’d taken his own life rather than accept his exile.

It was only his deserving, the others said, a dishonorable death fit for a traitor. Did they not remember the songs he had written, the ones he had found in the archives and given voice to? The light in his eyes at mastering a difficult fingering, at playing a complex piece through perfectly for the first time? His joy at walking the tables to his Journeyman’s seat, at returning from his assignment with a bronze fire lizard perched proudly on his shoulder?

There were whispers among the Harpers that Dazhis must have lured Kavi from his nest, that he was half-wild and vicious, but Cala knew these for lies. Kavi might not be kind to strangers, might snap with little provocation, but he’d loved Dazhis as much as Magi did Cala. He had come to like Cala too, in time, enough to accept feeding and petting without growling, and snuggle against Magi when the blue detached himself from Cala to sleep in the sun.

Kavi wasn’t vicious, and Dazhis had been more than just a traitor. Not that anybody would listen, now, not after he had joined the plot to replace the Weyrleader. Why had he done it? Cala knew there would be no answers.

It was only later, as the shock gave way to grief and he fought tears he had no right to shed, that Cala found Dazhis's little bronze hiding, shivering, at the back of a shelf, eyes whirling in fear and hide still stained with his master's blood. Cala stared for a few moments, unsure of what to do, and then Magi uncoiled himself and reached out to nuzzle Kavi’s side.

Though the Weyr might be subdued, shocked at all that had transpired, the kitchens were still working as normal and it was no issue for Cala to pile extra scraps of meat into the bowl he brought back to his room. Nobody spoke to him as he passed, as if not quite certain what to say, but he didn’t miss the sympathetic looks cast in his direction.

He returned to find Magi and Kavi curled together in a heap on his sleeping furs. They woke at once to the smell of food. As Cala fed them scraps from the bowl, he marveled at the normalcy of the act, though this time there were two hungry snouts instead of one.

Let the dragonriders look askance at him for feeding Kavi. Dazhis’s fire lizard and his songs were all Cala had left.

Masterharper Sehalis had told his students that time and music were the only things that could truly ease grief. Cala was far too sick with sorrow and betrayal to sing now, but in time, the words would come. A song that showed mercy to a traitor would never be widely accepted, but perhaps one voice would be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the discussions about a Pern AU with the mazei as harpers. 
> 
> Path's Harper Cala fanart is here: http://fuckyeahgoblinemperor.tumblr.com/post/138962218874/shiftingpath-talking-about-pern-au-on-irc-so
> 
> Join the tiny fandom discussion and RP at http://www.slashnet.org/webclient/thegoblinemperor


End file.
